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FAFSA 2025–26 opens early; counselors warned to prepare for contributor‑invite and ITIN challenges
Summary
Presenters at a Midwestern Higher Education Compact webinar said the 2025–26 FAFSA opened in mid‑November and is working far better than last year, but counselors should expect ongoing problems with contributor invites, manual ITIN tax entry and some data‑matching issues.
The 2025–26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opened in mid‑November, and presenters at a Midwestern Higher Education Compact webinar said the new cycle is far improved from last year but that counselors and families should prepare for persistent technical and data‑matching problems.
“Everyone knows the FAFSA opened on Thursday, November 21,” said Moralee Keller, senior consultant at the National College Attainment Network, during the webinar. Keller and other presenters said Federal Student Aid (FSA) largely cloned the 2024–25 form to avoid new public‑comment requirements and focused its work on clearer help text and user‑facing messaging.
Why it matters: counselors and high‑school seniors use FAFSA completion as an early indicator of fall enrollment. Keller reported roughly 16 million FAFSAs had been filed for 2024–25 (about 2% fewer overall than the prior year) and said high‑school‑senior completion was down by “over 8%,” a gap that counselers worry could translate to lower first‑year enrollment.
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